


what matters

by sillyputty



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Blow Jobs, Come Shot, Dirty Talk, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Porn by Trans People, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:08:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25874872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillyputty/pseuds/sillyputty
Summary: Jet laughed and glanced sideways at Zuko. His smile faded down into something the prince couldn’t quite decipher. Whatever it was, it made his cheeks feel too hot. Ridiculous, that a firebender could feel so hot just from a look. But here he was, Jet looking at him sideways, causing his heart to beat faster and his face to flush. He hoped Jet didn’t notice, even more than he hoped Jet didn’t notice he was just too warm all the time.“Let’s take a walk,” Jet said.If you don’t like trans headcanons, you definitely don’t want to read this. I’m trans so I write what I like.
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 149





	what matters

There was always someone awake on the ferry, refugees bustling back and forth, huddling together. The same had been true on Fire Nation warships, but that had been different. For one, Zuko had been commanding his ship. He’d been on others in other circumstances, but there was always a sense of respect. He was the _prince_ there, exiled or otherwise. People gave him a wide berth. He certainly wouldn’t have to put up with people right up in his space. It grated on him, wore down his already worn patience. He was hungry and irritated _all the time_. He had no idea how Iroh managed to keep his usual calm demeanour. In his meanest moments, he considered it senility, but even he knew that was unfair. He was tired of playing refugee with Iroh, but it wasn’t like there was another choice.

Jet’s Freedom Fighters were attractive, even if at first it was just for the temptation of a better meal. It wasn’t about justice for Zuko, not really. He didn’t share Jet’s ideals. He couldn’t possibly, even without realising the extent of the other boy’s hatred of the Fire Nation. They were just from different worlds, different statuses. Zuko didn’t always want or appreciate the things that came along with being a prince, but he also hadn’t really entertained the same compassion for other refugees that Iroh had. He was still too short-sighted, with the same singular focus encompassing everything he did. Find the Avatar. Regain his honour. Show Azula and his father and everyone else that he _deserved_ to be the Crown Prince. Though he wondered now if it was all for nothing. They could be stuck as refugees in Ba Sing Se forever. 

All of that aside, though, _Jet himself_ was attractive. Not just physically, though even Zuko noticed that aspect. Jet had total conviction in what he said. He was convinced he was _right_. Zuko himself had had conviction like that, or so he thought he had. But he was faltering now, struggling to find it. Everything was upside down and fucked up. The future was unclear to him. His very destiny was unclear to him these days. 

He took what Jet offered, though: a _distraction_. They could get better food, take it from the greedy captain and give it not just to themselves but to others. Zuko was learning generosity from Iroh, though he was dragging his feet about it. Sometimes, he wanted to be more, though. Listening to Jet made him want to be more. But to be something other than the Prince of the Fire Nation meant not being more, but being _less_. Zuko had a hard time seeing it any other way. But he was surprised to find, hanging around Jet and helping him “liberate” all that food, that maybe he could find a way to not mind quite so much.

Jet found him after the veritable feast taken from the captain’s quarters, eyes shining with self-righteous congratulations. Jet was so sure they were doing the right thing. Zuko got caught up in it. He wasn’t the kind of leader Jet was and knew it. And really...it had been relieving to let someone else lead, take control, just go along with it. If he wasn’t the one in charge, he couldn’t fuck it up. No one could hold it over him if things went south. 

Zuko had so many things to learn about himself. Or, rather, he had so many things to _acknowledge_ about himself.

Jet slung one arm over Zuko’s shoulders as easy as breathing, that triumphant smile glowing on his face.

“See, Li? We make a good team,” he said.

Zuko couldn’t help but smile back, swept up in the incandescence of Jet’s presence so near him. “I guess,” he said, aiming for aloof and failing miserably. Zuko was a lot of things, but aloof or indifferent, he was not. 

Jet laughed and glanced sideways at Zuko. His smile faded down into something the prince couldn’t quite decipher. Whatever it was, it made his cheeks feel too hot. Ridiculous, that a firebender could feel so hot just from a look. But here he was, Jet looking at him sideways, causing his heart to beat faster and his face to flush. He hoped Jet didn’t notice, even more than he hoped Jet didn’t notice he was just too warm all the time.

“Let’s take a walk,” Jet said. Zuko caught the suggestion in the other boy’s voice and let himself be naive enough not to get it.

“There’s nowhere to go,” he answered.

Jet’s arm slid off Zuko’s shoulders and back down to find his hand, twining their fingers together. Jet’s hands were rough. Zuko had calluses of his own, but he didn’t have the same roughness. Jet’s hands were also bigger than Zuko’s, though not _too_ big. Of course, people didn’t grab Zuko’s hands most of the time, certainly not to thread their fingers together. And if that wasn’t enough (and it _wasn’t enough_ ), Jet tightened his hand, pulling Zuko after him, expecting absolutely no argument.

Zuko told himself he should be annoyed at the audacity, but he really wasn’t. He kind of liked it, the take-charge thing. He hated that in some other soldiers, maybe, but that was about respect more than actual control. Letting Jet take the lead here was freeing on some level he didn’t have the words to express. To Zuko, it seemed like Jet knew exactly where he was going and what he was doing. 

He followed Jet to one of the rooms below deck. Not everyone on the boat got rooms. Iroh had gotten them room space to pacify Zuko. How Jet and his gang had managed it, Zuko didn’t know and didn’t care. 

“Where are your friends?” he asked. 

Jet shrugged. “On deck somewhere. They’re not coming back for a while.”

“Oh,” Zuko answered. Jet still hadn’t let go of his hand. Zuko looked down at their twined fingers, wondering why _he_ hadn’t let go of _Jet’s_ hand yet. 

“Li,” Jet said, fingers tightening on Zuko’s briefly.

Zuko pulled his gaze back up to Jet’s face. As soon as he did, Jet’s mouth was on his. He wasn’t prepared for it, nor was he prepared for Jet to push him backwards. Maybe he should have been. He was a _warrior_ , after all. His reaction time should have been faster. But there was a big difference between an attack and a kiss. Probably. 

He was too stiff when his back hit the door, rigid and unyielding because he was Zuko. Jet pulled his mouth back again but didn’t back off. He leaned against the door, one hand on either side of Zuko. The prince could get away if he really wanted to. Technically, Jet wasn’t stopping him. But Zuko didn’t move. He just stared at Jet with questioning golden eyes. 

“You held my hand all the way here like you were desperate for me to touch you and now you freak out?” Jet asked, more judgmental than Zuko thought he had any right to be. 

Zuko’s temper flared and his eyes narrowed again. “I’m not desperate,” he said. 

Jet laughed, just this side of mean. “Come on, Li. I can tell. Look, I get it.” He moved his left hand to run his thumb along Zuko’s right cheek, tracing a line that mirrored where the scar sat on the other side. Zuko’s breath caught, which just made him more annoyed at himself. Jet continued anyway, “You don’t let people in. You’re a fend for yourself kind of guy. I respect that. But when was the last time you let someone touch you? Never?”

Zuko jerked his face away. “Not _never_ ,” he said, defensive.

“Tell me to stop if you don’t want it,” Jet said. “But we both know you do.”

Jet’s mouth was on Zuko’s again in an instant, more insistent this time, tongue against Zuko’s lips without waiting for a reaction. Zuko thought he should probably shove him off, put an end to it. But Jet was right, too, damn him. Zuko didn’t let people touch him. That didn’t mean he didn’t want to be touched. 

Instead of shoving Jet off, Zuko brought one hand up and twisted it into Jet’s hair. His mouth opened. He barely knew what he was doing. He wasn’t someone who went around kissing people. He was the _Crown Prince of the Fire Nation_. 

Or maybe not. Maybe he wasn’t that at all anymore. Li wasn’t that, couldn’t be that. And Jet could never know the truth anyway. 

Jet’s tongue found its way into Zuko’s mouth. He pressed up against Zuko, body flush against him. Zuko could feel tension running through the other boy. This was Jet _restrained_. Jet’s arousal was impossible to miss while they were pressed against each other. Zuko heard a sound that he realised was his own, yes, _desperate_ noise, only half-muffled by the kiss. 

Jet slid a hand between their bodies, scrambling its way under Zuko’s clothes, sliding down his stomach towards his waistband. “Fuck, you’re hot,” Jet said, mumbled words against Zuko’s mouth. Zuko’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. He had no idea if Jet was being literal or not. He knew if the other boy realised he was a firebender, everything would go irrevocably wrong. He didn’t want that to happen for a lot of reasons, some of which were immediate and selfish. 

Jet’s mouth slid away from Zuko’s, along his jaw, down his neck. His hand moved again too, fingers dipping under Zuko’s waistband. He was so hard against Zuko now, with nothing left for the prince to cling naively onto. There was no denying what this was. 

_Tell me to stop if you don’t want it. But we both know you do._

Jet’s words stung because they were true. 

Jet’s fingers inched lower. Zuko let go of his hair, all tensed up again. He struggled, sudden and fierce, and shoved Jet away from him. 

Jet stumbled back a few steps, expression caught between hurt and anger. “What the fuck, Li?”

Zuko shook his head, tried to catch his breath, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “I have to tell you something,” he said. 

“Right now?”

“You’re not going to find what you expect,” Zuko said. He never talked about this. It wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t talked about, either. 

Jet’s anger morphed into suspicious confusion. 

“I’m not like you,” Zuko said, but he didn’t have the words to explain. Or rather, he was afraid to use them. He would never have admitted that. 

Jet stared. Zuko dropped his gaze, one hand still pressed against the wood of the door, one clenched into a fist at his side. It took all the control he had to keep from leaving one damning burned handprint there against the wood. There was no way Jet wouldn’t notice. 

“Wait, you mean in your _pants_?” Jet asked. Zuko’s eyes snapped back up to the other boy’s face. He was immediately defensive again. 

“I figured that out already,” Jet said, waving one hand dismissively. “I pretty much just had my knee right up against you, didn’t I? You’re not the only person like you I’ve ever met.”

Zuko wondered if it was one of the friends Jet was sharing this room with or someone he’d left behind somewhere. He’d never ask. 

“You’re...it doesn’t bother you?” he asked instead, wary, unmoving. 

“Obviously not,” Jet answered. “Is that why you were scared to let me touch you?”

Zuko felt his temper rise again. He pulled his hand away from the door, just in case. “I’m not _afraid_ ,” he said. Before Jet could throw some smartass dig at him, he stepped forward and grabbed Jet’s shirt with both hands, forgetting to hope they were both cool enough. He pulled Jet back against him, crashing their mouths together. Their teeth knocked but that didn’t stop either one of them. 

Jet’s arms found their way around Zuko. It was like a dam had burst, like a volcano erupted, both of them suddenly overcome with the desire they’d been restraining so carefully. Hands pulled at clothes. Clothes hit the ground in piles, Zuko’s indistinguishable from Jet’s, tangled together like their bodies apparently longed to be. 

Jet pulled Zuko with him towards one straw mattress, though he stopped at the edge of it, still standing. His hand resumed its earlier path, finding its way between Zuko’s legs with nothing left to impede his progress. When Jet felt how aroused Zuko was, he groaned against Zuko’s skin. 

“Fuck, you’re practically dripping. What was that about not desperate?”

“Shut up,” Zuko said with only half the bite he normally managed. It was hard to be mad with Jet’s fingers against him. 

“No, I wanna hear the truth,” Jet said, dark and amused, teeth scraping against Zuko’s neck. 

“Don’t leave marks there,” Zuko warned. 

“Then don’t bullshit me,” Jet answered. “Tell me what I wanna hear.” His fingers brushed too lightly against Zuko, teasing. Zuko’s hips moved to seek more, but Jet denied him. Zuko all but growled with frustration. 

“ _Tell me_ , Li,” Jet said, moving so he could talk into Zuko’s ear. “Tell me you’ve been practically gagging for it all day. Tell me you lay awake last night trying so hard not to touch yourself and think of me.”

Zuko was shocked by Jet’s words, the vulgarity of them. He was even more shocked to find that they made his desire _worse_.

“Fuck you,” he said, barely more than a whisper. 

Jet laughed again. “Maybe. That’s a start.” One finger moved, sliding over Zuko’s clit but just barely. Zuko gasped at the contact but Jet’s finger was gone again almost immediately. 

“Tell me the second you felt my dick against you you were thinking of riding it,” Jet said. Zuko could feel his face flush. How did anyone just say shit like that as if it were nothing?

Jet moved his hand that wasn’t between Zuko’s legs to grab one of Zuko’s hands. Zuko meant to resist but didn’t manage it. Jet brought that hand down to his dick, hard and hot. Zuko wrapped his hand around Jet’s erection without thought or hesitation, his actions belying his reluctance. He was in awe of how warm Jet felt under his hand. Surely Zuko was the warmer of the two of them? 

He let his hand move, sliding lightly gripping fingers up the shaft. Jet made a noise of approval, his mouth still close to Zuko’s ear. 

“Should I just tell you what I want instead?” Jet asked, tone playful but still low and suggestive. 

Zuko didn’t trust himself to speak. He tightened his hand just barely on Jet’s cock, then let up again. He nodded.

“I _do_ want you to ride my dick,” Jet answered immediately. “But first I want you on your knees, looking up at me with those gorgeous eyes while you suck me off. Imagine how wet that’ll make you. Even more than you already are.”

“I’m not going to get on my knees,” Zuko said, forgetting himself enough to be haughty about it. It was all pride, all self-denial, trying and failing to convince himself that Jet had no idea what he was talking about. 

Jet wasn’t bothered at all. He did that thing with his finger again, though this time he lingered, rubbing several slow, maddening circles against Zuko’s clit. “You sure?” he asked. 

Zuko gasped. Jet moved his hand, still too slow, too light. He kept that up until Zuko’s hips could no longer manage to stay still. Zuko was all but rutting against him, but he didn’t give any ground. 

“You really got nothing else to say?” Jet asked, teasing. “What are you gonna do if you’re not gonna get on your knees?”

Zuko’s answer was a frustrated sound more like a growl than anything else.

“Well?” Jet insisted, sliding his hand back up Zuko’s stomach.

“Don’t stop,” Zuko said immediately. He wanted it to be commanding, but mostly he sounded whiny in his own ears. 

“Oh, _now_ there’s something you want, huh?” 

Zuko swallowed. He wanted to set aside his pride for once. He didn’t need it here. He didn’t have to be a prince, bound to rules and duty and protocol. He didn’t even have to decide how this went; Jet had already laid it out. To Jet, he wasn’t a prince. He was no one, just another refugee, caught here in the tiny cabin, his body begging for what his mouth couldn’t. 

Li didn’t need Zuko’s useless pride getting in the way _right now_. That could be freeing too if he let it be. 

He let go of Jet’s cock and slid to his knees anyway. He couldn’t bear to look up at Jet’s face, though he could feel Jet’s eyes watching him. Jet didn’t let him off the hook so easily, though. He’d told Zuko what he wanted, in no uncertain terms. 

“Spirits, that’s perfect,” Jet said. Zuko didn’t miss the irony, him, a prince, naked and kneeling before Jet, a nobody. Him, now a nobody, kneeling before another nobody. At least Jet wasn’t aware of Zuko’s failures. No one had ever said anything Zuko did was _perfect_ before. That kind of praise, even here doing something filthy, was intoxicating. 

“I haven’t done this part before,” Zuko whispered, fiercely, daring Jet to say something scathing or humiliating. 

“It’s easy,” Jet said, wrapping his own long fingers around his cock and giving it a couple strokes. The motion drew Zuko’s gaze. He watched, lips parted in subconscious anticipation. “Open your mouth.”

Zuko, surprising both of them, did as he was told. Jet reached for him with his free hand to draw him closer, keep him steady. He didn’t force it, though. He let Zuko make his own decision about whether or not to actually go through with it. Zuko saw it as a challenge. Even if his pride would let him be here on his knees, he could never back down from such a challenge. Besides that, he _wanted to do it_ just to do it. He wanted to know what it was like. He wanted to make Jet feel like he did, flushed and bothered. Desperate. 

Zuko let Jet draw him the rest of the way forward until his mouth was on Jet’s cock. Jet let him go then, leaving him to figure it out. Zuko let his tongue slide over the head, along the slit where precome had already started to bead. He was a little surprised to find that the taste didn’t bother him. Quite the opposite, in fact. He did the same thing again with a little more surety this time. Jet made a sound above him that seemed encouraging, so he opened his mouth wider to take the whole head in. 

Jet’s soft sound became a groan. Zuko sucked on the head of Jet’s cock, moving his tongue again like he had before. Jet only encouraged him with sound, rushed words of obscenities mixed with praise. Zuko thought he could probably learn to really enjoy this. But Jet, like Zuko, was impatient. Zuko’s mouth on him was good, but not _enough_. After letting the prince do as he wanted for a minute or two more, Jet gave up some of his restraint, threading his fingers into Zuko’s hair and pulling him closer.

Zuko resisted out of surprise more than anything else, but only for a moment. He let Jet guide him until the other boy was fucking into his mouth in shallow, quick thrusts. It was almost easier in a way, because he didn’t have to do much other than move his tongue if he wanted to and try not to choke. Jet wasn’t pushing him too hard, though. He still had enough restraint to keep his dick from hitting the back of Zuko’s throat. 

A few more minutes of that, though, and Jet was still impatient. He let go of Zuko’s hair and pulled himself away. Zuko looked up at him, prepared to be pissed off or offended, but Jet didn’t go far.

Jet held a hand out to Zuko.

“You got other holes I’d like to fuck,” he said, by way of explanation. Zuko tried not to sputter in response, still shocked at the things Jet could just _say_.

Zuko let Jet pull him up to his feet. Jet slid an arm around him, pulled their bodies together, too-hot skin against regular-hot skin. Zuko hoped again that it wasn’t too much, that Jet didn’t notice. Luckily for him, Jet was too caught up in the moment to notice or care. The kiss that followed was messy. Zuko was kind of surprised by the kiss at first, too, considering where his mouth had just been, but that didn’t stop him from being into it. 

“Did sucking my dick turn you on?” Jet asked, practically speaking against Zuko’s lips. 

“I guess,” Zuko answered. 

“You _guess_ ,” Jet parroted back. He slid one hand between their bodies, sliding down Zuko’s stomach and between his legs. Zuko gasped at the fresh contact and tried not to be tense. “See, that’s what I thought,” Jet went on, slipping fingers between folds. “I knew you’d get even wetter.”

“Spirits, do you ever shut up?” Zuko said back. He wanted to sound angry, but that was difficult with Jet’s fingers practically inside him. 

“You like it,” Jet said. Zuko didn’t answer, but he had to admit to himself that Jet was right again. There was a sense of freedom combined with Jet’s apparent lack of restraint. Zuko didn’t have anything like that. Sure, he had a short fuse and a tendency to say things he shouldn’t. But that was different, somehow. 

Jet moved his hand away, to Zuko’s frustration, and pulled the firebender with him down onto the mattress. They ended up with Zuko straddling Jet’s torso. Jet let his hands rest on Zuko’s thighs. 

“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he said. 

Zuko felt his face get hotter. “Not really,” he said. The outright compliment was harder to deal with than the filthy stuff. He was too self-conscious, especially with the scar. 

“Yes, really,” Jet said, letting his hands slide slowly up Zuko’s legs. “Gonna be even more gorgeous with me inside you.”

Zuko huffed out a breath but didn’t answer. He was lucky it was just air and not smoke. 

“You still wanna?” Jet asked. He looked serious, almost concerned. 

Zuko nodded. “Yeah. Yes. Fuck. I want to.”

Jet’s expression relaxed again. He laughed a little, but not meanly. Zuko could feel Jet move under him, the small motions of the laughter, the way he shifted afterwards, hands moving away again. 

It took the prince a second to catch up. Right. _Right._ To his credit, Jet wasn’t hurrying him about it. But he’d been totally forthright when they’d started this. 

_I do want you to ride my dick._

Zuko took another breath, steadying himself, praying to whatever merciful spirit might still be listening that he could do this without too much heat, without fire. This would be pretty much the worst time for Jet to realise his nature. But he wasn’t about to call it off, either. He finally moved, repositioning himself so he could sink down onto Jet’s cock. He went faster than he meant to, faster than was entirely comfortable right away. He was too impatient, like with most things. It didn’t matter. 

Jet’s hands briefly tightened on Zuko’s legs. He moved them up to the other boy’s waist. “Fuck, that’s...fuck,” he said, at least momentarily short-circuited by sensation. Zuko might have laughed if he weren’t feeling something very similar. Instead, he rocked his hips experimentally, sucking in a breath as the new sensation surprised him even though he’d been the one to instigate it.

Jet moved under him, rolling his own hips in a sort of reversal of what Zuko had done. Zuko wasn’t expecting that, and it nearly threw him off balance. But even like this, warring with himself not to get too hot, not to _breathe fire_ , his balance was good and he recovered easily. Jet probably wouldn’t have let him topple over or anything, but that was hardly the point. 

“Jet,” he said, but that was all he could manage to say.

Jet’s hips moved again, and this time Zuko was ready and moved with him. They were lost for a few impossible minutes after that, just moving with each other. Jet slid one hand from Zuko’s waist down between his legs until his thumb was against Zuko’s clit. Zuko gasped and his rhythm stuttered but he didn’t entirely falter.

“I wanna watch you come,” Jet said, ragged and half-breathless. Zuko couldn’t manage anything in reply to that but a groan. One of his hands tightened where it rested on Jet’s chest, nails digging in. Jet made a sound that definitely wasn’t all pain. Encouraged, Zuko did it again. Jet retaliated by moving his hand against Zuko, moving his thumb back and forth over too-sensitive flesh. The way the boys moved their hips together kept that motion up, until Zuko was moving just as much for that sensation as the sensation of Jet’s cock inside him.

Eventually, feeling his climax building inside him as he rubbed against Jet’s hand, worked himself on Jet’s cock, Zuko pulled one hand away, burying his face in his arm. To Jet, it probably looked like embarrassment, but it was much more worry about losing control, giving away his true nature as a firebender. Not that his arm would really hide it if that happened, but it wasn’t like he was _thinking_ straight. 

“Hey, don’t,” Jet said between his own ragged breathing, reaching up with the hand that wasn’t against Zuko’s clit to pull the prince’s arm away from his face again, hand strong and tight on Zuko’s wrist.

“Jet,” Zuko said. He wanted to say _something_ , but he couldn’t explain.

“Told you I wanna watch, Li,” Jet said. There was something sincere in his tone, breathing hard, body still moving under and against Zuko. Most of his bluster was gone, taken over by his own desire. Zuko wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just let Jet hold his wrist and prayed that he wasn’t about to lose control enough to matter.

Zuko did come not long after that, hips stuttering in their movements again, nails dug into Jet’s skin, his other hand balled into a fist. He kept his jaw clenched against too much sound or errant lick of flame. Jet talked at him the whole time, just his same level of obscenities, something about _gorgeous_. Zuko wasn’t listening. It didn’t matter.

Afterwards, he sat there for a moment, trying to pull himself together again. Jet barely gave him much time, though. Instead, Jet moved, rolling them both so their positions were more or less reversed, with Zuko on his back against the scratchy mattress and Jet over him - and still inside him.

“You done?” Jet asked.

Zuko stared up at him for a second before managing something like a smirk. “Not until you are,” he answered.

“Good.”

Jet moved so he was balancing on his elbows and not his wrists. That left their bodies more flush, so when he started thrusting into Zuko, Zuko could feel more of him, the way his muscles worked, the fluid, strong motion of his body. 

Jet kissed him again, messy and artless, desire for contact more than anything specifically intimate. Zuko didn’t mind. He answered it the same way, breathless and open-mouthed. They were both a mess, sweaty and working towards exhaustion. It didn’t matter. Jet kept his hips going and Zuko matched him as best he could. Jet moved his mouth down Zuko’s neck. Zuko warned him again about leaving marks, but it didn’t _really_ bother him as much now as it had earlier. He wanted Jet’s mouth on him, bruises be damned.

They went on, wrapped in each other. Zuko kept one hand clenched against the thin blanket covering the mattress, hoping he wouldn’t catch anything on fire. Jet kept his mouth near Zuko’s skin, his unfiltered stream of obscenities muttered against the other boy’s body. Jet’s words turned into nothing, ragged breathing that matched Zuko’s own.

“Fuck, Li, I,” Jet stuttered, losing his grip on whatever filthy thing he felt like saying just then. He pushed himself up on his arms again and moved, pulling out of Zuko, leaving the prince gasping and reaching for him. Zuko tried to get thought together to protest, but then he watched one of Jet’s hands drop to his cock, wrapping around it, moving quick and without thought.

Right. _Right_ , of course Jet wasn’t going to come inside him.

Fuck, watching was hot, though. Was this how Jet had felt when Zuko was riding him? He hoped so. He pushed himself up on his elbows as well as he could, which shifted him under Jet a little. He was almost spellbound, watching Jet’s hand move along his cock. The other boy’s cock was shining and wet, which Zuko might have thought enough to be embarrassed about if he could think about anything other than how he _felt_ watching.

It was probably only moments before Jet came, lines of come hitting Zuko’s stomach and up to his chest. It was the filthiest thing he’d ever done, probably, but it was still just as hot.

They were both still for a long minute, with only the ragged sound of their breathing hanging in the air between them. Zuko still felt too hot, but he was cooling off, at least as much as he ever did. In the afterglow of this encounter, he felt much more relaxed, despite the bullshit he’d been through the past few weeks. He never exactly let things go, but he could _almost_ manage it here and now.

Jet moved first, leaning down again on one elbow. He kissed Zuko again, softly this time now that he’d gotten so much worked out of his system. Zuko was a little surprised by it, too surprised to really kiss back.

“You okay, Li?” Jet asked.

Zuko managed a nod. “...Yeah. Yeah, I’m...really good,” he said. He didn’t like having to lie about himself, his name, his heritage, his _firebending_. But this was an honest admission, and that felt good, too.

Jet offered Zuko a lopsided grin, then pushed himself back up. “I got a towel somewhere,” he said, going to dig through a small bag. Said ‘towel’ was really just a rag, but it was enough to clean up with. Zuko didn’t bother asking about washing it. They were still on the ferry, after all. Nothing fucking mattered. 

No. _This_ mattered, whatever this was between them, at least for the few days or whatever they had. Zuko wasn’t about to give up everything he wanted, his quest for honour, his desire for a return from exile. He wasn’t about to tell Jet about himself.

But for now, Li could just...be here with this too-intense freedom fighter and his ideals, even if Zuko couldn’t. Of course, they couldn’t just lay here naked and sweaty forever either way.

After cleaning up, Zuko went and gathered his clothes to put them on again. Jet just pulled on his pants, leaving his shirt off for the moment, watching Zuko dress. He’d gotten one of those stupid weeds from somewhere and was worrying it between his teeth. Zuko managed to find it _almost_ endearing.

“You wanna do this again?” Jet asked, entirely casual in a way Zuko could never be.

Zuko stilled. He made a fuss over adjusting his clothes and didn’t answer. Jet’s hand on his shoulder actually surprised him; he hadn’t watched, hadn’t bothered to notice Jet crossing the small space between them.

“Hey,” Jet said, soft but insistent.

Zuko tensed, considering shrugging Jet’s hand off, blowing all of this apart like he did everything else. He didn’t trust anyone entirely because he didn’t trust _himself_. But when he looked up and met Jet’s gaze, that didn’t matter either.

“Yeah,” he answered. “If we get a chance.”

Jet grinned, toothy because he was still holding that stem there. “Good. Me too.”

Zuko turned towards Jet, more or less into the other boy’s arms. Jet actually looked surprised this time, which Zuko privately enjoyed. He reached up and took that weed out of Jet’s mouth with one hand, leaning up to kiss him before the other boy could manage any words of protest. When the kiss broke, Jet stared at him wide-eyed for a moment. Then, he laughed.

“I knew I liked you right off,” he said, plucking his chew toy back out of Zuko’s fingers. “You and me, we’re good together.”

Zuko smiled, but didn’t trust himself to answer.

“I’ll see you around, Jet,” he said, sliding out of Jet’s embrace and towards the door. Jet moved a hand like he might reach out, stop him, say something else. In the end, he shoved that hand in his pants pocket and shrugged.

Zuko was out the door before he could think better of it and fuck everything up by saying or doing something too conspicuous, too firebender, too _Zuko_. As he wandered off to make sure his uncle knew he hadn’t died (or killed anyone, maybe), he let himself hold on to feeling good, if only for a moment, if only as a lie.


End file.
